tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33960805.post1965517431094139029..comments2015-02-19T23:19:52.834-08:00Comments on Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry: A Closer Look: Effexor Beats SSRIs (Kind of, Sort of, In a maybe meaningless way...)CL Psychhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13990549972520745769noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33960805.post-72306111367891135802008-03-03T13:48:00.000-08:002008-03-03T13:48:00.000-08:00OK, I see it. I only looked at the text, not the ...OK, I see it. I only looked at the text, not the references. I agree that with three medical writers, there would be no reference errors. Perhaps there was a diffusion of responsibility.<BR/><BR/>Meta-mercial it is!CL Psychhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13990549972520745769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33960805.post-57065520291599303652008-03-03T13:28:00.000-08:002008-03-03T13:28:00.000-08:00The Hamilton Anxiety Scale was cited incorrectly a...The Hamilton Anxiety Scale was cited incorrectly as reference #14 that should have cited the Hamiton Depression Scale. A minor slip, perhaps, but inconsistent with due diligence by the KOLs.<BR/><BR/>I'll go with meta-mercial :-)Bernard Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203083806436919715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33960805.post-23279442851994015152008-03-03T12:36:00.000-08:002008-03-03T12:36:00.000-08:00Dr. Carroll,So we have one author in the byline fr...Dr. Carroll,<BR/><BR/>So we have one author in the byline from Advogent and two more from Advogent who provided, um, "editorial assistance." How many medical writers does it take to craft an article? [Insert punchline]<BR/><BR/>And the non-transparent acknowledgements/authorship lead us to wonder exactly who was responsible for doing what. <BR/><BR/>I just looked through the paper again and I didn't see a reference to the Hamilton Anxiety Scale. Maybe I missed it. But that's a small point. The lack of transparency combined with the almost humorous overreaching of the authors about the public health impact of Effexor -- those are the big points here. And the obfuscation regarding the more important point to be seen from their data, well, that's to be written about soon...<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your comment. The comments from the Advogent website are interesting, though I don't know how "effective" or "efficient" this piece of marketing/science will be. Perhaps we could call this meta-analysis a meta-mercial (in the tradition of experimercial)?CL Psychhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13990549972520745769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33960805.post-39451013480607576682008-03-03T12:20:00.000-08:002008-03-03T12:20:00.000-08:00Well, one of the named authors was Diane M. Sloan,...Well, one of the named authors was Diane M. Sloan, whose affiliation was given as Advogent, Wayne, New Jersey. Advogent is a medical communications company that describes its services as follows on its website: <BR/>“Advogent is the premier communications company for the Healthcare industry. We create, deliver and manage compliant communications and strategic solutions and services for the leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies.<BR/>Through our diversified business units we deliver precise and life-cycle solutions that are compliant, efficient and effective.”<BR/><BR/>Advogent’s client list is a Who’s Who of big Pharma. The products they highlight are: “Abilify, Adderall XR, Agomelatine, Aricept, Aromasin, Atripla, Avalide, Avapro, Baraclude, Brevibloc, Caduet, Camptosar, Celebrex, Chantix, Coumadin, Detrol LA, Effexor XR, Ellence, Emsam, Erbitux, Exubera, Genotropin, Geodon, Glucophage, hylenex, Inspra, Januvia, Licarbazepine, Lipitor, Lovenox, Lyrica, Macugen, Neurontin, Norvasc, Orencia, Plavix, Pravachol, Pristiq, Rebif, Relpax, Reyataz, Roflumilast, Spiriva, Sprycel, Suprane, Sustiva, Sutent, Tequin, Transderm Scop, Viagra, Xalatan, Xolair, Zoloft, Zostavax”<BR/><BR/>Does anybody still think this was not an infomercial?! The appearance is that the marketing message was carefully cultivated by Ms Sloan with the assistance of the 2 acknowledged medical writers, using statistical analyses of Wyeth’s data performed by in-house statisticians. Did the key opinion leaders Charles Nemeroff and Michael Thase review the manuscript carefully before their names were given first-author and last-author prominence? Nope. Had they reviewed the manuscript carefully they would have seen that the inexperienced medical writers cited the Hamilton ANXIETY Scale as the key outcome measure. Such is the dismal state of tradecraft nowadays displayed by busy key opinion leaders as they rush from one gig to another.Bernard Carrollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203083806436919715noreply@blogger.com